Men&#39;s wearing apparel



y 7, 1963 s. w. STEDMAN ETAL 3,088,121

MEN'S WEARING APPAREL Filed Jan. 4, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 -EH!!!HUHQUUHQMQHEE 5 s H M 4 A X 'WEESMAN R H WIELIA'M D. STEDMAN ATTOR YS May 7, 1963 Filed Jan. 4, 1961 S. W. STEDMAN ETAL MEN'S WEARING APPAREL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS SARAH w. STEDMAN WILLIAM D. STEDMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,088,121 MENS WEARING APPAREL Sarah W. Stedman and William D. Stedman, Asheboro, N.C., assiguors to Stedman Manufacturing Co., Inc., Asheboro, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Jan. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 80,649 8 Claims. (Cl. 2-426) This invention relates to mens wearing apparel and more particularly to a mans undergarment or brief.

It is desirable in mens briefs that the brief give a neat and trim fit while at the same time offering gentle and substantial support to the wearer. it is also desirable that the brief be so constructed as to eliminate any tug at the waistline when the wearer moves. We propose a novel undergarment which achieves the above advantages and which at the same time may be economically made from knitted or other materials that are readily available in the market.

Broadly, a brief constructed according to our invention comprises a front part and a back part and a pouch portion joined to and separating said front and back parts to form two leg openings. Secured to the upper edges of said front and back parts is an elastic waistband. We provide in addition an expandable gusset in the crotch portion which tends to reduce any creeping, crawling, or undue tug at the waistline when the wearer moves.

The construction relating to the pouch portion is unique and specially designed with a substantial fullness to provide a smooth contoured fit without undue compression while giving firm and gentle support. We provide an elasticized arcuate tape which is secured to the upper edge of the pouch portion and to a lower edge of the front part. A plurality of nonelastic vertically extending support tapes join said elasticized waistband to said elasticized arcuate tape. This arrangement gives positive support and due to the shape and flexibility of the arcuate tape maintains a smooth fit as the wearer moves.

The pouch portion may be made of an elasticized material to provide a greater degree of support. Where the pouch portion is made of an elasticized material, such as a material having rubber fibers, we provide a non-elastic strip which is secured to the lower edge of the elasticized pouch portion and to the upper edge of the expandable gusset. The non-elastic strip prevents unraveling of the rubberized elastic material which tend-s to occur when it is sewn on to a knitted material.

Referring to the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of our invention is shown.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pair of mens briefs constructed according to our invention wherein the pouch portion is a rubberized elastic material.

FIG. 2 is a view of FIG. 1 turned inside out and illustrating in particular to the backside of the front part of the brief shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a pair of mens briefs constructed according to our invention wherein the pouch portion is a knitted material.

FIG. 4 is a view of FIG. 3 turned inside out and illustrating in particular the backside of the front part of the brief shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1 in greater detail, 1 illustrates a front part of a mans brief while 2 represents a back part which is joined to the front part by vertically extending seams 3 and 4. The upper edges of parts 1 and 2 in turn have sewn thereon an elastic waistband 5.

An elasticized pouch portion 6 is joined to and separates the front part 1 and the back part 2 to form two leg openings which are defined by leg bindings 7 and 8. Bindings 7 and 8 may be made of either an elastic or non-elastic material. The material comprising the pouch 2 portion is preferably made of rubber fibers which are cloth covered. It has been found that such material provides readily elastic properties which at the same time can be worn comfortably next to the skin.

An elastic arcuate tape '9 is sewn on to a lower portion of the front part 11 and the upper part of the elasticized pouch part 6. Vertical supporting tapes 10, 11, 12 are sewn on to front part 1 and are secured at their upper ends to waistband 5 and :at their lower ends to the elastic 'arcuate tape 9, thus supporting pouch portion 6. The pouch portion thus supported tends to give gentle and firm support to the wearer while the flexibility of the arcuate tape keeps the garment fitted smoothly to the wearers body.

In addition, we provide for an expansion gusset 13 to be included in the crotch portion below the pouch and between the leg openings. The expansion gusset 13 is made of a knitted ribbed cotton which is stretchable laterally of the leg openings. This gusset as shown tends to eliminate any creeping, crawling, or undue tug at the waistline of the wearer as he moves.

To prevent unraveling of the rubberized elastic material of the pouch portion we also provide a nonelastic strip 14 to be joined to the elastic pouch portion 6 and the expandable gusset 13.

The pouch portion itself comprises in parts 15 and 16 joined by stitching 17. Initially the parts 15 and 16 are joined together by turning over one edge of a part and overlapping the turned over edge over an edge of the other part. The edges are then stitched together on one side and after they are stitched together, the pouch is turned inside out so that the stitched edges will be on the inner part of the pouch when the pouch is joined to the front and back parts. This particular construction helps shape the pouch to the desired configuration.

Referring to \FIGS. 3 and 4 in which a diiferent embodiment of our invention is shown, it is seen that the briefs there illustrated are generally similar to those illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 except that the pouch portion comprises a knitted material instead of a rubberized fabric material. The knitted pouch portion 1 is joined directly to the expandable gusset 2 by a horizontally extending seam 3 and does not require the inclusion of a separate strip since the knitted material does not have the tendency to unravel as does the rubberized fiber material. The separate parts comprising the pouch are joined in the same manner as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

It is to be understood that changes in the described structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention which scope is to be determined by reference to the following claims.

We claim:

1. A mans undergarment having a front part, a back part sewed together along their side edges, a pouch portion joined to and separating said front and back parts at their lower edges to form two leg openings, an elasticized waistband aflixed to the upper edge of said front and back parts; the improvement comprising an elasticized arcuate tape stretchable in a direction along its length and joining the top edge of said pouch portion with a lower edge of said front part extending from one leg opening to the other leg opening intermediate the side edge of said front and back parts and a plurality of nonelastic vertically extending support tapes joining said arcuate tape and said elastic waistband to support said pouch portion.

2. A mans undergarment according to claim 1 where in said support tapes are affixed along their edges to said front part.

-3. A mans undergarment according to claim 1 whereturn two separate in the material comprising said front part, said back part and said pouch portion is a knitted material.

4. A mans undergarment according to claim 1 wherein said pouch part is a rubberized elastic material.

5. A mans undergarment according to claim 1 having in addition an expandable gusset separating and joining the bottom edge of said pouch portion to the bottom edge of said back part. 7

6. A mans undergarment according to claim 5 Wherein said pouch portion is of a rubberized elastic material and having in addition a non-elastic strip joining said elastic pouch portion to said expandable gusset.

7. A mans undergarment according to claim 6 Wherein said support tapes are alfixed along their edges to said front part.

8. A mans undergarment according to claim 1 wherein one support tape is connected to the arcuate tape at a point substantially at the middle thereof and two other support tapes are connected to the arcuate tape at the ends thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,435,377 Wise Feb. 3, 1948 2,717,388 Rutledge Sept. 13, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 773,551 Great Britain Apr. 24, 1957 

1. A MAN''S UNDERGARMENT HAVING A FRONT PART, A BACK PART SEWED TOGETHER ALONG THEIR SIDE EDGES, A POUCH PORTION JOINED TO AND SEPARATING SAID FRONT AND BACK PARTS AT THEIR LOWER EDGES TO FORM TWO LEG OPENINGS, AN ELASTICIZED WAISTBAND AFFIXED TO THE UPPER EDGE OF SAID FRONT AND BACK PARTS; THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING AN ELASTICIZED ARCUATE TAPE STRETCHABLE IN A DIRECTION ALONG ITS LENGTH AND JOINING THE TOP EDGE OF SAID POUCH PORTIONS WITH A 